


Don't Do The Easy Thing

by MaddieandChimney



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: When Maddie first turns up in LA, Buck struggles to understand exactly why his sister didn't leave her husband in the first place. Chimney gives him advice that seems to come from a place of experience.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Howie "Chimney" Han
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Don't Do The Easy Thing

“I don’t know, I just don’t… get it. I don’t know why she would stay with someone who was hurting her, you know.” They had all been laying in the dark, each on their own bunk in an attempt to get some shut eye before the bell goes off again. But Buck’s mind was whirring, and he was voicing all of it aloud in the hopes someone would give him some sort of clarity. Anything to help ease the confusion and anger that burns through his body whenever he thinks of Maddie and her husband.

“Because it’s just not that simple, Buckaroo.” It’s Chimney’s voice that breaks the silence and Buck hadn’t really been expecting anyone to answer him. They were all exhausted, over eighteen hours into a twenty-four shift, and they had all become adept at being able to fall asleep despite what was going on around them.

He shakes off the surprise that he even got an answer in the first place but also, that the answer was from Chimney, as he lets out a deep breath, “But why can’t it be that simple? Someone hits you, you leave, right? She could have left the first time he did it. She says it got worse in the last year but she’s been with him for sixteen years, Chimney. She’s had random bruises for a lot longer than… longer than a year.”

There’s silence, and he assumes everyone has fallen asleep, so he feels comfortable enough to whisper, mostly to himself, “I just, I’m so mad at her for staying.”

“It’s easy to look in from the outside and say victims should just leave their abusers. It’s easy to judge them and blame them. Don’t do the easy thing, Buck.” It’s Buck’s turn to be silent, sitting up slowly in the bed as he looks through the darkness in the general direction of where Chimney is laying. “It doesn’t just happen. It’s gradual, by the time it first happens there’s already a relationship there. They trust and love that other person which is what makes it so easy for them to pull them into the darkness.”

When Buck doesn’t answer, Chimney continues and he can hear the way Hen’s breathing hitches, he knows she’s awake and listening but he doesn’t stop, “You shouldn’t be mad at her for staying, you should be proud of her for leaving. Because right now? This is the most dangerous time… not just physically because I doubt he’s going to just let her go, Buck but… mentally, too. She’s going to be blaming herself enough, she’s going to keep looking back and wondering why she didn’t see the warning signs, why she didn’t leave the first time he hit her or the second time or…” He trails off, “She’s going to be mad enough at herself and she won’t need you adding to that, it won’t help her.”

His voice is full of regret, regret that only Hen understands when she reaches out blindly to grab at his hand, “Just forgive her, I know it’s not easy, but she’s your sister and she ran to you to be safe, Buck, not judged anymore than she’s probably judging herself right now.”

Buck frowns, slowly moving to lay back, running through the paramedic’s words over and over again in his mind, until he rubs at his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from falling. “Every time I told her that he wasn’t right for her, that she could leave… start again… she told me that he loved her and she loved him and I keep replaying all those times in my mind. How could she say he loved her when he… he was hurting her?”

“Because he probably does love her, just not in the way you and I would love someone… you’re not helping her or yourself by thinking about it though, Buck. Just be there for her now, be the safe pair of arms she came running to because that’s what she needs. She doesn’t need your regret, or your anger… she just needs her so-her brother, she needs her brother.”

It’s easy not to acknowledge the tears in Chimney’s voice, the way it cracks, when there’s tears rolling down his own face. “Thanks, Chim.”

“Anytime, Buckaroo. Now let us get some sleep before—”

He’s cut off by the sound of the alarm ringing through the station, Buck only feeling slightly apologetic as he rubs at his eyes and jumps from the top bunk, more relieved than anything that he can distract himself from the meaning behind Chimney’s words. The unspoken experience he must have had, the undeniable regret.

“Hey, uh, Chim? Will you—Maddie wants a security system at her new place, will you help with that?”


End file.
